Picnic pavilions. Indoor meeting and event sites. Sprawling outdoor spaces. We’ve got plenty of venues where you can just hang out or host an event — whether it’s a gala, a wedding, a birthday party, a family reunion, or a business meeting.
With its matching brown stain that replicates the feel of a tobacco barn, the Gheens Foundation Lodge epitomizes the style of architecture around the parks. The interior is snug and wood-paneled, while the light-filled rooms make it the ideal venue for a range of event sizes and functions — weddings or reunions or board meetings.
Retrofitted in the style and location of the original farm barn, the Hockensmith Barn is available to rent by appointment only or to guests during scheduled events. Accommodates up to 225 people. An adjacent lawn is also available for tenting and ceremonies.
Just north of the Robert W. Rounsavall, Jr. Family Foundation Creekside Center, the Egg Lawn is something like the nucleus of Beckley Creek Park. The wide-open feel of the lawn’s 22 acres makes it the ideal locale to host a festival, a tournament or other outdoor, large-scale event.
Relish the outdoors under this multipurpose picnic pavilion. Offering nearby parking, adjoining restrooms, and a buffet staging area, the PwC Pavilion (for short) is ADA accessible and can accommodate 100–150 guests for half-day or full-day events. Plus, its proximity to a number of sites — Egg Lawn, PNC Achievement Center, Gheens Foundation Lodge, and Floyds Fork — make it ideal for birthday parties and large family reunions.
The PNC Achievement Center for Education and Interpretation is located in the Robert W. Rounsavall, Jr. Family Foundation Creekside Center, near the Gheens Foundation Lodge and the Egg Lawn. Inside the PNC Center are two state-of-the-art classrooms — which we often use for camps and field trips and special programs — that can be rented for birthday parties, business meetings, and other community events.
The Ben Stout House is listed on the National Register of Historical Places because it dates back about 200 years, making it the oldest man-made structure in The Parklands. Daniel Omer most likely built the house during the early 19th century and sold it to Ben Stout, its namesake, in 1867.
Thanks to a donation from the Brown-Forman Corporation, this former dairy farm has been retrofitted into a community event space containing venues and picnic shelters. Reservable venues at this site include Hockensmith Barn and the Pignic Barn. Rent out multiple spaces to host a large-scale event.
Where better to ham it up than in a repurposed pig barn? One of the open-air pavilions in the Brown-Forman Silo Center, the Pignic Barn seats up to 60 people and can be rented every day but holidays or on days when the Hockensmith Barn (also in the Silo Center) is reserved — which is typically every Saturday from May through October. The Pignic Barn is available on a first-come, first-serve basis when not reserved through a paid rental.
The more we poked around this section of Broad Run Park, just north of the Cliffside Center, the more we fell in love with this forested hillside and decided to preserve it as a woodland garden. We planted thousands of shrubs and ferns and native perennials like mayapple to the existing vegetation to create spaces that feel like rooms outdoors. Sit inside one of these alcoves and marvel at Kentucky’s living woodland.
The Ogle Foundation Woodland Pavilion is an ADA-accessible event site with restrooms, a buffet staging area, an adjacent lawn and parking lot, and the capacity to operate a gas grill. Seats up to 125 people. For smaller gatherings, including birthday parties, visitors can reserve the Redbud Shelter next to the Cliffside Playground and Sprayground. The Pavilion is available on a first-come, first-serve basis when not reserved through a paid rental.
The Redbud Shelter is ADA accessible, offers parking and restrooms, and accommodates up to 36 guests, making it the perfect spot for a birthday party or a small family get-together. Check its availability when planning your event — the Redbud Shelter is often reserved on weekends, especially during peak hours. Please note that there is no electricity and grills are not permitted.
Interested in hosting a large-scale event or setting up shop in The Parklands? Our parks feature plenty of space and make the perfect setting for your next 5k race, farmer’s market, food truck drop-in or photo shoot. Read up on the permits required for large group and commercial activity use.
Our park system is nearly five times as large as New York’s Central Park, so you may need some help finding your way around. Chart your course with our interactive map.